Re: Pooh Happens

Rudi , when it rains it pours as they say. The nice part of that is there is always a sunny day beghind all of the rain. My best of wishes for you and Em .

Re: Pooh Happens

Wed May 16, 2012 9:18 am

Read your story with compassion and concern, you are a strong man, best wishes from down here in Massachusetts.

Re: Pooh Happens

Wed May 16, 2012 10:08 am

Rudi,All you have gone through, still maintaining a positive outlook, is inspiration to us all. All of your Cub family is hoping and praying for a good outcome for you and your family. Our best wishes to you and yours.Bill & Lynda

Re: Pooh Happens

Wed May 16, 2012 10:59 am

Wow, I did not expect to read that. Best of luck on the long road back. You have the positive attitude and that is so important.

Re: Pooh Happens

Wed May 16, 2012 12:08 pm

Praying for you down south, things will work out boss

Re: Pooh Happens

Thu May 17, 2012 6:20 am

Rudi, my goodness man, surely there are special blessings headed your way. You are in my prayers.

Re: Pooh Happens

Tue May 22, 2012 6:44 pm

Mr. Rudi... I am so sorry to hear that you're going through all of this. You and your family are in my prayers!

Re: Pooh Happens

Tue May 22, 2012 7:31 pm

Thanks all for your affirmations of support, you have no idea what that means to me. You all have always been there for us every since 04 and we consider ourselves very blessed

A little update... got called in Thursday to see Dr. Taylor and she tested the pressure - 35 .. not good. Changed the drops to see if that would make any change and added one of the old glaucoma pills to the regimen. On Friday she called and had me scheduled for a recheck this morning at 8am. So.. off we go for a pressure test - we get to the hospital and first thing they do is write up them little yellow wrist bands as if you are going to have day surgery or some kind of treatment. That was the first clue. Got to see her, she checked my eye pressure and it was 32. Not enough change so the old regimen was reverted to and the pills kept as well. Last Thursday she explained to us a procedure that they do for glaucoma - it is described as cutting a trap door in the eye. That is done in Halifax apparently and the surgeon is very well respected. It is an option she said.

Anyways, since I was there and since she has decided that I need the trap door procedure -- she elected to do the laser surgery this morning. 310 shots. Dang that smarts The letter went out to the surgeon this morning and we expect to hear either tomorrow or Thursday when I am going but apparently it is next week. 2 days in Halifax. Not sure if I am looking forward to this or not. Having my lenses/cataract surgery - I never felt a thing - a rather uneventful experience except for the outcome which is simply amazing -- I am the $6000.00 Bionic Man - I have multi-focal progressive lenses built in now and they work some sharp. Well at least the left one still does .. The laser smarts and that needle in the eye schtick really hurts a lot. Not for long but really intense so I am kinda leary about the trap door.

Anyhoosie, hope your week is off to a better start

Re: Pooh Happens

Tue May 22, 2012 7:47 pm

Rudi,

Prayer has been lifted up, my friend.

Bill

Re: Pooh Happens

Tue May 22, 2012 8:46 pm

rudi, you are in our prayers. God bless.

Re: Pooh Happens

Sat Jun 23, 2012 10:20 pm

Been contemplating when/how I should update this thread...or if I even should. The last few weeks have been pretty difficult, so I guess it is time if I am going to. It always helps to talk about it and with folks I can call friends. Most especially when those whom I can call friends have always been there with prayers and support.

Got a call Monday June 4th for an appointment scheduled for the following Wednesday afternoon June 6th. Em and I left early Wed morning for the almost 3 hour drive to Halifax. Em driving because well I am still not used to the depth perception loss and driving is still a little bit difficult. We get to the hospital and meet the Doc. Go in for the exam and evaluation. Then the bad news comes. He looks at my eye and says the pressure is 50 and needs to be reduced. He asked how I was handling the vision problems, I told him not well. So I asked what the prognosis was in regards to getting my vision back and he said - "not likely so best to get used to it, that eye is done" which set me back on my heinie real quick. Pretty cold and clinical. Not much of a bedside manner with this guy. Good doc.. just lousy sense of humour Vicky, my doc here in town says 10% chance of recovering my sight, this guy says, less than 5% and more like 100% that I will never regain the vision in my right eye. Not what we want to hear at all, very disheartening to say the least.

So, then he says... "do we do the trap door or do we do deep laser? " ... and he explains that the trap door is more invasive and prone to infection whereas the deep laser does the same thing but with less risk. So we talk about it and decide to go with the deep laser because it is less invasive and supposedly less painful. He stuck a needle in the lower lid to start freezing and I could feel it all move right to the back of the eye. Didn't hurt too much, more pressure than anything else. Next up was the deep laser. Didn't feel a thing. He said it went well and that I should be a lot more comfortable. We had to stay overnight in Halifax as he wanted to see me first thing in the morning.

So, Em and I went found a hotel then we went to Applebee's for dinner. This is the first Apllebee's that we have been too .. not available here in the Moncton area yet but it opened up in Halifax as it is a slightly larger city Dinner was good ... then the freezing started wearing off. Darn good thing Em brought the Demerol with her cause the Extra Strength Tylenol the doc said I should take for the minor discomfort I was going to feel just didn't cut it. You can tell that this doc never had deep laser surgery cause he doesn't have a clue as to how much that sucker hurts.... omg .... I would almost rather stick my hand in a vise and close it After a not so good night sleep, we saw him in the morning, he cleared me to travel and off home we went. Let me say that the following weekend was not exactly the happiest one I have had for a number of years. Demerol was my buddy all weekend

Monday June 11th, dawned a new day .. and as they say a new week brings lots of hope and a little less pain. Pretty nice day, got to do a few things that have been hanging around. Cut some grass, had a nice dinner then sat down to watch some tube. Around 1930 I noticed my lips were numb, mentioned it to Em and she asked if I wanted to go to Emerg. Nope, no reason I thought. About an hour later, Em was talking to Samantha (she is still in Hospital – 6-1/2 months now), I went to look in the mirror cause my lips felt numb and so did my face. Took one look and got the scare of my life – my whole right side of my face was drooping. I got to Em, pointed, she told Sam bye real quick and hussled me off to the Hospital real fast. Took about 15 minutes to get to Hospital, was kind of a weird feeling, face going numb off and on. Got to Emerg, lots of folks there, waited about 10 minutes and then the nurse noticed Em frantically pointing and said she thought I had just had a stroke and possibly having another one, so the nurse got me into triage next. Started the in-routine and about 2 minutes later – well it hit the fan. I felt the right side of my face go again, I could talk but no one could understand me. The nurse grabbed my chart told Em to push and follow as she trotted to Acute. Apparently I had another stroke right there. The duty ER Doc happened to be right there and a few nurses helped out.

The next couple hours I kinda remember and kinda don’t. All I know it was a very scary time for both of us. About midnight the Doc postulated that I probably had a couple TIA’s which are loosely, little strokes that do not kill off brain cells or have long term debilitating effects. There isn’t too much that can be done as I am already on the proper medication, just need to get the Vascular surgeon’s opinion as we know that the left carotid artery is a little stopped up. I have had a lot of appointments over the last two weeks and it has kept me kind of busy thankfully cause I have had a pretty difficult time accepting this. We will continue to do what we have to do and as the docs here tell me to do, but realistically there isn’t a whole heck of a lot of hope. I am just glad I guess that I am still breathing and looking at the grass from the right side up.

Thanks for listening, needed to vent a bit. As they say .. pooh happens.

If there is one really positive thing that could come from this would be more awareness of the early signs of stroke or TIA's.

If any of you or your loved ones experience any of these symptoms get to a hospital Emergency Room as fast as you can. Stroke and TIA's are medical emergencies and must be treated immediately.

Re: Pooh Happens

Sun Jun 24, 2012 4:40 am

Rudi you're a strong man. Many would have given up a long time ago. You keep fighting back, and you have a good attitude. I hope that these "curve balls" that keep being thrown your way, stop. To write the post above, shows that there has not been an effect on your brain and your ability to think and put your thoughts together in writing. Sounds like your eye is better? Have they considered removing the plaque from arteries in your neck that evidently is causing a restriction of blood flow? No matter what, you have the right attitude to get you through this. Keep the posts and updates coming.